Distortion on piano recordings? Advice appreciated


I'm not sure exactly where to put this, but I guess amplification is as good a place as any.

For several months now I've been occasionally noticing distortion (fuzz) in my system, only on some piano recordings. It seems to happen when they get loudest, or when the note attacks seem most intense even if not that loud. It's only at mid-high frequencies (not lows or extreme highs). Seems to be the front channels only-- I plugged my surround speakers into the front channels and heard it then too.

In that time I've changed all my components (amp, processor, CD) except the speakers, and I have tested other pairs of speakers and interconnects with the same result, though it's perhaps less obvious with RCA ICs than with XLRs.

I'm pretty sure I've also swapped out speaker cables too, though not lately. I'll try different speaker cables again this weekend, but assuming it isn't them, could it be a room node? I don't know that much about nodes, but I thought they were usually problems at much lower frequencies. Can this be this severe in the higher ranges too?

Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

System:
Halcro MC-70 Amp
Classe SSP-600 Pro
Hyperion HPS938 speakers
Aurum Cantus Leisure for surrounds
NAD M5/ Parasound players
Audioquest ICs and cables
apspr

Showing 2 responses by apspr

Thanks for your response-- I think some of the recordings could be prone to moments of overloading, but these are classical recordings of the last 10-12 years, so I doubt that's the whole answer.

Tim
Thanks for all the food for thought, gang.

I should have mentioned I did listen some through headphones with my previous processor (Anthem AVM-20) and got the fuzz clearly then too, so since then I have been assuming that the speakers and their cables are unlikely to be the culprits. As I mentioned, the amp has been changed (and someone noted, the Halcro has lots of power in reserve) so it never seemed like that was the issue.

To (partially) summarize your other suggestions:

1. the recordings themselves. Piano does seem to be the toughest thing to get without distortion, and the increases I've made in fidelity with upgraded gear may bring it out more. If so, then c'est la vie, I guess :)

2. a voltage mismatch/overload between the NAD (maximum output of 4.2 volts balanced) and the processors-- although the Anthem is rated at 5.3 Max input.... This is a new area to me-- Is there anything to be done about something like that, short of getting a new player?

It's not a big enough drag to kill the pleasure I'm taking in this system-- just trying to learn more about the many mysteries of audio...

Thanks again--